India aims to construct 100 km of highway per day, physical toll plazas to be removed; says Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has said that the Indian government is aiming to accelerate the pace of highway construction in the country to 100 km per day. He further stated that in the next 18 months, India's road infrastructure will be better than that of the US.

Gadkari has also said that the highways ministry will construct 25,000 km of two and four-lane highways in the coming years, news agency PTI has reported. "Infrastructure development is very important for India...I am working to accelerate the pace of highway construction in the country to 100 km per day," he reportedly said further, adding that there is no dearth of money for the highway projects.

The report further stated that the pace of highway construction in the country touched a record of 37 km per day in 2020-21. The highways ministry reportedly constructed 10,237 kilometres in 2019-20, 13,435 kilometres in 2020-21, 10,457 kilometres in 2021-22, 10,331 kilometres in 2022-23 and 12,349 kilometres in 2023-24.

Mumbai-Goa highway to be completed by June 2025

The minister also stated that the long-delayed Mumbai-Goa highway will be completed by June this year. This would bring relief to daily commuters and Konkan-bound travellers. The Mumbai-Goa national highway is expected to reduce the travel time between these two places significantly and will give a huge boost to development in the region. "There were numerous difficulties with the Mumbai-Goa highway. But do not worry, we will complete the road 100 per cent by this June," he added.

Physical toll plazas to be removed soon

The Indian government has been mulling the plan to implement satellite-based toll collection across the country for quite some time, which will replace the existing FASTag-based toll collection system. Speaking on this, Gadkari has said that physical toll booths would be removed across India soon, and the centre will come up with a new toll policy. "The central government will soon introduce a new toll policy. I will not speak much about it now, but within the next 15 days, a new policy will be announced. Once implemented, there will be no reason for anyone to complain about tolls," he said.

The new system would involve automatic deductions from bank accounts using satellite tracking and vehicle number plate recognition, eliminating the need for manual toll collection, the minister said.

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